Drowning in SEaWAter
by Madninja324
Summary: the year after Team RWBY's first year at Beacon a team made up of mostly misfits started their first year, with new challenges and new enemies Rated M for Emitt's sailor's mouth, serious violence, some pretty dark stuff, possibly more later but not likely, my first attempt at an M rated fic
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: first day jitters

(Flavian's POV)

Flavian Wittmore was sitting in the corner of the airship, as far away from everyone else as possible. The little yellow clad ninja was nervous around other people, like everyone else on the airship to Beacon Flavian was wearing his combat clothes and weapons, a dark yellow _gi_ with loose yellow pants and a chain shirt under the _gi_, Izanagi, his electrical ninjato was strapped to his back, and Rampage, his father's old retracting claw gauntlet was on his left arm, modified by Flavian to shoot shuriken, and a bunch of kunai and several rolls of paper bombs were concealed all over his body in his clothes. Flavian felt a little more secure knowing that he was perfectly capable of defending himself if it should become necessary, but as the blue mechanical eye in the sixteen year old's left eye socket testified, being able to slaughter Grimm wholesale did very little good when you refused to fight back against people who wanted nothing more than to cause you pain.

The yellow ninja pushed those thoughts out of his head and began looking around him at the other potential students, there was a huge Tiger Faunus boy with black stripes on his face and his bare muscular arms, a jagged scar across his neck, and a sword almost as tall as he was leaning against the wall next to him, he had wild ginger hair, and a rough, rugged face, Flavian decided that if the other students were like the striped boy he didn't want to know, so he stared at the ceiling, until the hologram of a stern looking blond woman with lime green eyes addressed the initiates, before the hologram vanished.

"_Hello, my name is Glynda Goodwitch, I am the Deputy Headmistress and Combat class teacher, and it is my pleasure to welcome all of you to Beacon, the Kingdoms of Remnant are experiencing a hard earned peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses it is your job to uphold it. Good luck."_ The Tiger Faunus snorted with derision, and a blue haired girl gave him an icy glare, Flavian was just glad that that blood chilling look wasn't directed at _him_.

(Emitt's POV)

Emitt Vulcan thought back to Glynda Goodwitch's speech, it was bullshit, what kind of peace involved seven year old boys being taken from their families and forced to fight for their lives? The ginger tiger Faunus shook his head, thinking about _that_ made his scars ache. The airship finally landed, and Emitt picked up his weapon, Vulcanus, and strapped the massive sword to his back before walking out onto Beacon's Landing platform with dozens of other initiates, the blue haired ice queen who'd glared at him earlier brushed past him with a disdainful huff, before Emitt was entirely aware of the motion he'd reached out and grabbed the girl's wrist. The knife wound that had made the scar on Emitt's throat had damaged his vocal chords, so his voice came out as a rough growl.

"Listen Ice Bitch, I don't know what your problem with me is, but you clearly have one, so spit it out and get it over with."

The girl looked down at the hand engulfing half her forearm, her cold blue eyes glowed for a second, and Emitt let go of her arm, his fingers were smoking with frost, and hurt quite a bit.

"Fuck! That hurt, what the hell?!" The angry tiger striped fighter glared at the five foot three girl who'd nearly given him frostbite with a look. Her voice would have been considered beautiful and lyrical, if it hadn't been as cold as the winter wind in Atlas.

"I just don't like rude thugs, and my name is Cerise, not Ice Bitch, so I would appreciate it if you got at least that right, I'm sure your brain isn't so tiny that you couldn't use my name."

Emitt growled, low and deep in his chest. Then he turned and slammed his fist into the cobblestones, his aura flared up around him like red orange, and yellow flames, and the stones shattered where his fist hit, then he turned on Cerise, feline green eyes blazing.

"I may be a rude thug, but at least I'm not a judgemental Ice Queen who passes judgement on others without a scrap of knowledge about that person." Emitt felt his aura fade away with the blinding burst of rage, he knew that if he hadn't been making himself be careful to avoid getting kicked out before initiation he would have attacked her, after all, hitting a Huntress in training wasn't the same as hitting a normal person, for one thing he could generally count on Hunter trainees to actually _survive_ his punches, no matter if they looked like delicate ice sculptures, heck, Cerise looked as if she could freeze him solid with a glare, or cut him to pieces with the shortsword strapped to her waist.

(Cerise's POV)

_That hot headed thug, how dare he try to judge me!_ Cerise fumed, before the quiet voice of her conscience put in it's two cents, _but isn't that exactly what you just did to him?_ Feeling a little ashamed of her behavior, Cerise forced herself to calm down.

"What's your name, anyway?" Cerise asked, still sounding more judgemental than she intended.

"Emitt, Emitt Vulcan." The scarred tiger Faunus growled, he didn't seem very angry, so Cerise assumed that the growl was his normal speaking voice, likely the result of the jagged scar that stretched across his throat.

"Well, Emitt, my name is Cerise Silviana, this arguing helps nobody, and we may end up Teammates by tomorrow, so if it's all the same to you I would rather forget about this incident and move on."

Emitt grunted in assent.

(April's POV)

April Quinn skipped off of the gangplank of the airship smiling widely, she was going to Beacon! Just out of high spirits, April caused all the flowers in a nearby garden to bloom and grow, she was going to have so many good times here, she just knew it!

(Flavian's POV)

Flavian stood in the back of three airship loads of initiates as Headmaster Ozpin prepared to step on stage for his beginning of the year speech.

The Headmaster was a tall, thin silver haired man in a green suit and matching pants, his sharp, intelligent brown eyes looked out over his prospective students, from behind small, round sunglasses.

"I will not lie to you, the path you've chosen is a dangerous one, but for the protection of the people from the threat of the creatures of Grimm, all of you, by enrolling in Beacon Academy, have pledged your lives in service to all people, Human and Faunus alike. It is the jobs of the faculty of Beacon to teach you the skills necessary to perform this grave duty, it is the job of all of you while within these walls to learn what we teach to the very best of your abilities, learn well, because lives will depend on what you've learned." Without further ceremony, Ozpin turned on his heel and left.

The crowd of initiates were all murmuring among themselves, but Flavian heard none of it, as soon as the Headmaster's speech ended the nervous ninja went into a full panic attack, sure he'd been aware of the risks of a Hunter's profession, but to hear it spoken of so casually by such an experienced and famous Huntsman made the prospect of imminent death seem like an inevitability, that no matter what a Hunter's level of skill he would die at the claws of the Grimm, and there was nothing they could do to avoid that fate.

"Hello!" Flavian nearly jumped out of his skin, he did jump ten feet into the air, the girl, who had greeted him from behind, watched as he dropped back onto his feet.

"Wow! That was pretty impressive, I've never seen anyone able to jump nearly twice their height from a standing position before, I must have really startled you!" The girl's open face fell slightly. "Sorry! But I didn't think you would be that startled, after all, it's supposed to be impossible to sneak up on a ninja." The girl's violet eyes sparkled with humor.

Flavian blushed deep red and stuttered out a mumbling apology. The strange, tiny girl, smiled, she was barely five feet tall and slender, a green sniper rifle was strapped to her back, and she had an orchid tucked behind her ear in her blond hair.

"You're a quiet one ain't ya?" The girl asked with a smile. Flavian nodded nervously, and gave a shaky smile.

"That's fine, you don't need to push yourself if talking to me makes you uncomfortable, I can wait until you've warmed up to me!" The girl answered with a widening of her perpetual smile.

"I'm April, what's your name cutie?"

Flavian blushed redder, but managed to speak a little louder than his usual mumble. "F-Flavian Whi-Whi-Whittmore."

April nodded. "Well, it's been a pleasure to meet you, maybe we'll see each other at initiation tomorrow, I hope so." With a wink, April walked away.

* * *

(Author's note: I have too many ideas in my head, so now I'm going to get rid of one of them, please read review and enjoy)


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two: New Beginnings

(Emitt's POV, Dreamscape)

"_Number twelve, I'm disappointed in you, that last fight was pathetic, Number forty was half your size, and yet he gave you the worst injury you've gotten in these pits, not only that, it was only because you allowed him to inflict this wound on you that you were able to win at all, you nearly cost me a lot of Lien, and you're going to pay it all back, in blood." Emitt Vulcan, younger, shirtless, and with fewer scars, had his arms stretched wide by manacles, a large gash bisected his entire torso and was still leaking blood, even two hours after receiving the wound from the shortsword of his most skilled opponent to date in the underground gladiator pits, number forty had been a wiry sandy blond twelve year old human, two years younger than Emitt himself. Some of the blood covering tiger Faunus' naked torso wasn't his, the other boy had fountained blood everywhere after Emitt had cut the smaller boy's head from his shoulders._

"_Prepare yourself, Number Twelve, I don't want you to fall unconscious during your punishment, if you do I'm going to have to kill you, so make sure you stay awake." Emitt had known this would happen, his handler was a big fan of using whippings as a way to discipline his gladiators, and it was no fun for him if his victim passed out during his punishment, a whining noise filled the air, and Emitt knew that the chains had been activated and were draining his aura down to the levels where a normal whip would have no trouble piercing it's protection._

"_I'm going to give you thirty lashes, you count, and if you lose count I'll start over again, maybe then you'll remember to fight with everything you have, remember, if you fall unconscious you die Number Twelve." With that, Emitt's handler held up a bullwhip, moved behind him and with a loud _crack _slashed Emitt's back. "One..." Emitt snarled out around gritted teeth. _Crack! "_Two." Snap! _Crack! _Agony burned Emitt's back like fire. "Three... Four..." _Crack! _The whip slashed Emitt's back and another wave of agony piled onto the previous ones. "Five..." Emitt fought hard to keep his voice even as another _Snap! _Heralded a new line of fire and blood along his back. "Six..."_

Emitt Vulcan's eyes snapped open and he shot into a sitting position, his sleeping bag fell off his broad shoulders revealing his bare torso, with it's black tiger stripes and the dozens of scars that crisscrossed all over it, including one that started on his left shoulder and formed a diagonal line across his body to end just above his right hip, the scar he'd gotten from Number Forty. He'd never been able to learn the kid's real name, but never forgot his face, he never forgot any of the people he'd killed, his dreams made sure of that.

Emitt pulled on a shirt and left the ballroom where all the other initiates were still sleeping and headed to the showers, he wasn't aware that he'd been watched.

(Cerise's POV)

Cerise was deeply disturbed, the tiger Faunus boy she'd gotten into an argument with yesterday had woken her up with his desperate grunts and wordless vocalizations, she was a light sleeper, and had been since her operation, so the quiet noises were more than enough to do the job, then he'd woken up with a start and she'd seen his torso, she had known the ginger boy had scars, it was as plain as the thick pale line on his throat, but _Dear Dust_ the sheer number of scars on his back alone told of systematic torture, likely over a period of multiple years. The marks were too even to have been made by Grimm, people had done that to him.

Shaking her head of the troubling thoughts Cerise got up and began to get ready for the day ahead.

(April's POV)

April sat down in Beacon's dining hall, a plate of scrambled eggs, sausage, fruit, and a bagel and began eating in slow, measured bites. April was excited, in a couple hours Beacon's initiation would begin, she wondered who her partner would be, and who the rest of her teammates would be, she hoped they would be nice, and if they weren't, well then April would have to wear them down until they opened up, after all, they would be stuck together for four years.

(Cerise's POV, two hours later)

Cerise Silviana stood on a metal platform alongside fifteen other initiates, each with their own small platform to stand on as they waited for professors Ozpin and Goodwitch to explain the rules of initiation, off to the side a tent stood with the excess initiates waiting for their turns, they would be launched shortly after the first group finished.

Professor Ozpin stepped forward and spoke.

"For years, each of you has fought, trained, and honed your skills as warriors, today will be your first test as Hunters, on the northern side of this forest is an abandoned temple, this temple contains your objective, once each of you has landed you will need to find a partner, this partner will be the first person whose eyes meet yours upon entering the Emerald Forest, and you will be together for the next four years, once you've partnered up each pair will be expected to make their way to the temple, once there you will find several relics, retrieve one, then make your way back to these cliffs with your prize, you will be monitored and graded for the initiation, but our instructors will not intervene, take your positions."

A black haired fox faunus took out a pair of metal nunchaku and smirked. Further down the line, Emitt drew his massive sword from it's sheath and shifted it into a minigun. A low-average sized boy with a nervous face and a mustard colored _gi_ drew a ninjato from his back, several electrical sparks ran up the length of the short sword, and a pair of metal claws extended from the gauntlet on his off hand. A small purple haired girl in a matching, purposefully messy open suit, and half untucked white shirt drew a green bladed Guandao, which had been separated into seven sections, which all snapped back into place with a flick of her wrist, while another girl, a cheerful looking blonde, pulled a sniper rifle from her back and separated it into a pair of chokuto. An arrogant-looking boy with white hair that sported a single streak of red drew a cavalry saber, and a brown haired boy dressed in nothing but a pair of brown linen pants drew a kama and chain from his hip and began wrapping the chain securely around his left forearm. Cerise drew her own weapon, Aurora Borealis, and shifted the gladius into it's energy bow mode.

_Thunk!_ As one the metal plates shot upward and launched all sixteen initiates into the air.

(Emitt's POV)

Emitt thanked whatever divine power might exist that he wasn't afraid of heights, he activated his Semblance: Burn. With a small effort of will he converted the Dust in the ammunition used by Vulcanus' minigun form into fire Dust, then he pointed the heavy gun at the ground. As it began rushing to meet him, the heavily scarred tiger Faunus fired his gun, unleashing a torrent of flames that served to slow his fall fairly well. He landed in the charred ruins of a small copse of trees with a jolt, and a burned branch jabbing him in the back, it penetrated his skin but didn't break off in the wound.

"FUCK!" Emitt roared in pain, then he pulled himself off the tip of the branch, he reached behind himself to check the wound, but it was already healing. The scent of woodsmoke was messing with his sensitive tiger Faunus nose so Emitt started walking into the forest, ignoring the small fires still burning all around him.

(Flavian's POV)

Flavian landed in a roll after using his wire and a kunai to swing from a tree branch and thus slow his fall, then he channeled his aura through the wire and tugged, both wire and knife came free of the branch the kunai had been embedded in, he retrieved the blade and stowed it back under his left sleeve, then he rolled up the wire and returned it to it's pouch. The yellow ninja leapt up and bounced between two trees until he could land in the branches of one of them, he began bounding from branch to branch silently, keeping a close eye out for monsters or other students as he headed north.

(Cerise's POV)

Cerise walked calmly through the forest, Aurora Borealis was back in it's gladius form. The blue haired ice user heard roaring, both human and monster voices, she shifted her weapon back to it's ranged form and ran toward the source of the noise, which turned out to be Emitt, wearing the same clothes as yesterday, but with the additions of a pair of spiked pauldrons protecting his shoulders and neck, surrounded by a dozen Beowulves and three Ursae, Cerise pulled back the string on her bow and a white arrow of pure kinetic energy formed, she released the missile and it pierced a Beowulf through the heart as it attempted to sneak up on Emitt, blood sprayed out of the wound, onto the Tiger faunus and several of it's packmates, who turned toward Cerise as she shot another energy arrow, taking a second monster in center mass and severing its spinal cord, seven Beowulves broke off from the pack and charged at Cerise, who fired three more shots from her bow before dropping it, she didn't have time to shift it into melee form, so she activated the Dust running through her veins, then she waved both her hands in front of herself, palms open, fingers spread wide, pale blue light spilled from her palms and coalesced into several pointed shards of ice which she sent rocketing towards the monsters at point blank range by thrusting her hands forward, the four remaining creatures attacking her got impaled repeatedly, blood sprayed everywhere as the four monsters were struck in the chest, the belly, the throat, one shard even embedded itself in a monster's eye, piercing the creature's brain.

Cerise scooped up her sword and charged in, only to find Emitt handling the situation with little difficulty, he was brutal, but effective. He cleaved the nearest Beowulf in half, a wild, nearly insane grin stretched his face as blood sprayed everywhere from the two halves. Emitt ducked under a claw swipe and slammed the pommel of his sword into an Ursa's stomach, then he swept his blade forward, gutting a Beowulf that attempted to attack from the side and biting deep into the Ursa's torso as the Beowulf's intestines fell out in slippery gray ropes of flesh, Emitt kicked the Ursa off of his blade and stepped back, dodging a Beowulf's snapping jaws, the massive greatsword swept up in a clean arc that sheared through the beast's neck. Emitt grabbed the last Beowulf by the throat and lifted and slammed the monster into the ground, then he shifted his weapon into minigun form and opened fire, the rounds tore through the prone Beowulf and the last two Ursae in a spray of blood and chunks of flesh.

(Emitt's POV)

Emitt shifted his weapon into its melee form and sheathed it down his back, then he turned to Cerise, their eyes met.

"So, looks like we're stuck together, eh, Ice Princess?" Emitt growled with a wry smile tugging his lips. The icy look Cerise gave him was enough for the bloodstained tiger Faunus' smile to become a grin.

(Flavian's POV)

Flavian was very confused and a little annoyed, first he'd been snuck up on _again_ by the exact same girl who'd surprised him after Ozpin's speech yesterday, then she'd dragged him off and they'd somehow managed to get an entire pack of Beowulves on their tails, and considering the little ninja's heritage, getting dragged around like a lost puppy by a girl even smaller than himself was a little insulting. Besides, those monsters weren't going to leave them alone.

Flavian's Semblance didn't so much kick in as he started paying attention to it, as they ran he pulled his hand out of April's grip, then he drew three kunai with paper banners tied to the eyeholes on the hilts, each piece of paper had several symbols written in Dust infused ink. Flavian's supernatural sense of angles and distance told him the exact moment to act, and the exact method to produce the best result, holding the knives between the fingers of his right hand, Flavian leapt to the side, planted his foot on the side of a tree, and turned on that foot, throwing the knives into the pack of monsters, only one actually hit a Grimm, and only then it was just a small hit, but the yellow themed ninja didn't mind, the knives themselves had only been the delivery system, a pulse of aura later and three explosions ripped holes in the Beowulf pack, the paper bombs he'd developed worked like a charm.

With dexterity that could only be gained through years of Hunter training Flavian leapt off of the tree, flipped, and landed silently. The little ninja's hands were once again full of throwing knives, each one had a different colored tag dangling from it, but before he could throw them a sniper round flew past his ear and took a monster in the throat, Flavian's more than human hearing told him that April was ratcheting a new round into her sniper rifle, Flavian threw all six kunai into the air at very specific angles and with very specific amounts of force, then he drew his sword and extended Rampage's claws, then, with a quick look back at his partner, who was still firing her rifle at the creatures, the little ninja did something extremely uncharacteristic for him: he charged headlong at the huge pack of lupine demons.

Each of the six explosive laden knives landed before Flavian reached his opponents, exactly as planned. All six knives detonated at the same time, flames, lightning, ice, wind, water, and stone lashed out of each tag maiming or killing each creature standing too close to the centers of the six blasts. Flavian drove Rampage's two blades into the throat of a Beowulf, then he ripped them out the side of the demon's throat as he twisted low and to the left, disemboweling a second monster with Izanagi. The little ninja fought like a whirlwind, never staying in one place for more than a couple seconds, he shot shuriken from the launcher built into Rampage every once in awhile to force a monster back, or cause one to flinch in pain, giving him an opening to land lethal strikes, he removed heads and limbs, opened veins and organs, and sent a near constant fine spray of blood and gore into the air around the yellow clad Huntsman.

Flavian dodged a Beowulf, slapped a tag onto it's back and dashed to his left, he ducked and rolled past another Beowulf, which he hamstrung as he came out of the roll, then the yellow light of his aura flickered around his body and the tag he'd put on the Beowulf began spraying water with the force of a fire hose, spraying an entire line of monsters behind the tagged beast, Flavian leapt in and stabbed Izanagi into the stream, electrocuting all the monsters in the line.

A roar sounded as a massive wave of fire engulfed the back of the pack, Flavian's head snapped over in the direction the fire had come from, he saw the hulking form of the scarred tiger Faunus from the airship, holding a minigun from which small flames were still in the process of dying away.

A high, clear female voice cried out. "Get back! Now!"

Flavian wasn't stupid, he ran for April's position at top speed, he barely made it when a wave of ice washed over the remains of the Beowulf pack, freezing the last of the pack solid. From behind the tiger Faunus the blue haired girl from the airship staggered out, looking visibly drained.

(April's POV)

The pair that had saved Flavian and April from the Beowulves walked into the clearing they'd basically wiped of monstrous life, the male shifted his mingun into a greatsword and sheathed the massive blade down his back. April, being the cheerful individual she was started the introductions. "Hi! I'm April Quinn, and this is my partner Flavian Whittmore, thanks for the save."

Flavian turned bright red and twitched with nerves, but he managed a muttered thank you as well. The big guy with the tiger stripes and loads of scars stomped past disintegrating Beowulf corpses and fixed a glare the sniper/ninja pair. "Emitt Vulcan, you're welcome." He growled. His partner stepped up beside him and gave them polite nods. "And I am Cerise Silviana, a pleasure, I'm sure."

April smiled over at the other girl, her violet eyes met Cerise's pale blue, which were showing signs of strain, probably from that huge wave of ice she'd created, that had to have taken a lot out of her. Cerise's blue painted lips quirked upwards in response, April thought that the other girl had a bit of a fixation on the color blue, what with the blue makeup, blue dress and blue hair, at least her tights were green, so she wasn't totally monochromatic, then again the color did look _really_ good on her... April shook her head free of that train of thought, briefly reflecting that her parents may have had a point about the ADD thing, even in her internal monologues she tended to ramble.

(Flavian's POV)

Now that the Beowulves had been vanquished the group began making their way through the forest towards where they thought the temple might be, Flavian kept to the back of the group. The nervous ninja kept looking over at the two newcomers, they scared him, especially the scarred tiger Faunus, Emitt, he looked savage, like the kids who'd tormented him as a child, because he was small, weak, and to them, freakish. Flavian shuddered and closed his eyes, the natural brown one and the blue mechanical eye, trying to forget the circumstances he'd lost his old eye.

"Hey, uh, Flavian was it? Are you ok? You looked like you weren't thinking anything good." The deep growling voice took the yellow clad ninja off guard, he started at the sound and turned to face Emitt, who was looking uncomfortable, and keeping his gaze on anything but the smaller boy. Flavian's eyes widened, he hadn't expected anyone to notice his moment of pain, least of all the scarred Faunus, but there he was, wild ginger hair framed a scarred face with two parallel black stripes on each cheek, a hard mouth, and depthless, cat slitted green eyes that showed concern and empathy, it was at that moment that Flavian realized that the large boy understood, he clearly had no idea what Flavian had experienced, but he did know what it was like to be haunted by bad memories. Suddenly Flavian felt a bit of the tension he held within at all times ease just a little bit.

"I wasn't." Emitt nodded at his answer, accepting it as all Flavian was willing to give at that moment.

(Emitt's POV)

Emitt left the pipsqueak to his thoughts, the silver haired ninja clearly had trust issues, hell, so did Emitt, and after what Emitt had been through in the Pits nobody, including himself, could blame him for being slow to warm up to others, so the scarred berserker figured he was in no position to question why other people acted in a similar manner.

(Cerise's POV, twenty two minutes later)

The foursome stepped into a clearing, in the center was a ruin with a semicircle of pedestals in the middle, most of the pedestals held an object, though some were empty, which Cerise took to mean that they hadn't been the first group to reach this place, the partner pairs split up to examine the 'relics', they were, in fact playing cards, and there was something else...

"There are two of each card, unless one has already been claimed." The blonde girl, April, was the first to break the silence hanging around the clearing.

Cerise was curious, she too had noticed the duplicates. "What do you think it means?" She wondered aloud.

Emitt snorted and grabbed a Jack of Spades. "What does it matter what it means? All we need to do is take one and go back to the cliffs."

Cerise rolled her eyes. "Fine, April and Flavian, you should grab your card and come with us, the way back will be safer with four people watching eachother's backs." Cerise turned to the other pair, only to find April holding the second Jack of Spades.

"Alright then, let's get..." Before the ice user could say 'going' four people burst out of the forest, three boys and a girl, one of the boys was firing an automatic handgun behind him. It took a second for Cerise to recognize them, she'd noticed all four back on the cliff, the fox Faunus with the twin nunchaku, the arrogant looking boy with the red streak in his hair, the shirtless chain scythe wielder, whose weapon apparently turned into an automatic pistol, and the messily clad tiny guandao user, they were followed by around fifty Rippers, bipedal reptilian Grimm with black scales, four red eyes and a mask of white bone over an elongated snout with razor sharp teeth, sharp claws on their hands and feet, with the middle toe on each foot sporting a massive hook-like claw.

The crack of April's rifle broke her companions out of their shock, Emitt drew his massive sword and charged the Grimm with a roar that would have made a real tiger proud, Flavian vanished into thin air, only for three Rippers to fall with severed spinal cords, and Cerise whipped out Aurora Borealis' bow form and began pelting the monsters with energy arrows. With the appearance of reinforcements the fleeing quartet turned heel and joined in the attack, the fox Faunus was a blur of metal nunchaku, small explosions, bursts of electricity and savage kicks, he worked well with his evident partner, the kama and chain wielder, who was whirling through the monsters like a deadly twister, driving the blade of his kama into reptilian throats and eyes, using his chain to trip the more difficult foes. The girl in the messy purple suit was spinning her polearm with impressive control, slashing and stabbing with the blade and striking out with the shaft to shatter bones and block claw attacks, the boy with the saber was displaying just as much skill as his peers, slashing and hacking all around him, occasionally firing a bullet from the short range gun attached to the hilt parallel to the blade, he even blasted two Rippers off their feet with a shockwave from his hand, likely his Semblance.

While everyone else was occupied a group of monsters broke off to attack April and Cerise, four charged the blonde, while three ran for the bluenette. April's sniper rifle shifted, then separated into a pair of single edged straight blades, chokuto, Cerise meanwhile changed her bow into a gladius. The grass around April began growing rapidly as the normally cheerful blonde charged her attackers with a ferocious expression on her face, grass tangled the legs of the Grimm as April sliced them to pieces. At the same time Cerise stood her ground until the Grimm were almost on her, then she exploded into motion, twirling dance-like around a bite attempt before driving Aurora Borealis' into the back of the offending creature's skull and then ripping it out with a quick twist. A Ripper attempted to bite her but Cerise drove her blade through the roof of the Grimm's head, unfortunately the shortsword got lodged in the bone of the Ripper's skull and she was forced to let go in order to dodge the remaining monster's snapping jaws. Ice formed into a lethal spike in Cerise's hand, who then drove the spike through the eye socket of the Ripper's bone mask.

(Emitt's POV)

Emitt watched as the shirtless guy tore the throat out of the final Ripper with his weapon, the kama entered through the side of the monster's neck, then he jerked hard on the chain, tearing the blade out through the front of its throat. With the last monster dead Emitt sheathed Vulcanus down his back, the Grimm blood he'd managed to get splashed with slowly evaporated from his clothing into foul smelling black smoke. The scarred tiger boy turned to see his partner pull her sword from the skull of a disintegrating Ripper, there was another monster with an icicle lodged in its eye socket, the situation was obvious to Emitt's combat experienced eyes, a frown formed and a low rumbling growl bubbled up from his damaged throat at the close call his partner had just had. The pipsqueak, who now that he had a moment to think about it smelled a little like what he would expect from a dog Faunus, was glancing nervously over at Emitt, as if the larger boy would suddenly attack him. The guy with the white and red hair met Emitt's gaze, and what the tiger Faunus saw there he didn't like, arrogance, disdain, and hate. The ginger berserker held the arrogant swordsman's gaze and curled his lip into a derisive smirk, he wasn't afraid of some prettyboy racist hotshot, if he tried to make trouble Emitt would just have to kick his ass.

"Hey, Pipsqueak." Emitt turned his attention over to the youngest member of the group.

The small ninja let out a squeak and the purple clad girl with the guandao, who herself was about five feet tall, a whole six inches shorter than Flavian, glared at Emitt, who rolled his eyes at her. "Not you Shortstack, 'm talkin' to the pipsqueak here." Emitt growled at the girl, who bristled at her new nickname. Emitt dropped a large, scarred hand onto Flavian's shoulder, the yellow clad ninja seemed to shrink into himself.

"Pipsqueak... Flavian... good job kid."

(Flavian's POV)

Flavian almost couldn't believe what he'd heard, when Emitt had spoken to the sixteen year old ninja had been ready to be mocked or honestly, _anything_ other than being complemented by the older boy. Flavian was slowly realizing that he'd misjudged Emitt, though it was abundantly clear the tiger striped berserker was an angry person, but he wasn't cruel. He managed to mumble out a reply. "T-thanks."

The two groups introduced themselves to each other while the shirtless guy and the purple clad girl grabbed their cards, then the eight initiates made their way back to the cliffs.

(Cerise's POV, three hours later)

"Rufus Axwain, Dietrich Blut, Benjamin Grey, and Casca Floriciente, the four of you retrieved the King of Clubs card, together you will be known as Team RuBiCunD, led by: Rufus Axwain." A group of four young men stood on stage, the new leader, Rufus, was easily the largest member, at nearly seven feet tall with a massive warhammer strapped to his back, however as the boy next to him was called up Cerise saw Flavian's face lose all color, though only his brown eye widened in fear, the blue one didn't react to the terror obviously coursing through the sixteen year old's body, unfortunately Cerise couldn't do anything to help him, Cerise saw Emitt glare at the boy who had inspired terror in the ninja just by his presence, the scarred berserker's arm was bulging with corded muscle as he clenched his fist hard enough to draw his own blood in attempt to hold himself back, even April's violet eyes were narrowed in Dietrich's direction. The target of all that anger and terror didn't look like anything special, he was of average height and skinny, with messy blond hair and a broadsword strapped to his waist, however Cerise thought she saw arrogance and envy in the boy's eyes as he glared at his new leader.

Team RBCD walked off the stage and the group that had worked with Cerise and the others stepped up. "Sandor Faraday." The fox Faunus stepped up onto the stage. "Lilivet Amethyst." The lone girl of the group joined the nunchuk wielder, scowling at the Headmaster as she did so. "Reddington Thurman." The sabre wielder took a place on the other side of his female teammate from Faraday, giving the fox tailed fighter a disgusted look. "And Lumis Devon." The shirtless boy bounded on stage with a joyful whoop and took his place next to Sandor, after sparing the young man a look of amused tolerance Ozpin continued speaking. "The four of you retrieved the Queen of Hearts card, and will henceforth be known as Team StARLight, led by: Sandor Faraday." While the girl and the shirtless guy looked pleased to varying degrees by the choice of leader Thurman looked close to exploding, though a quick frown from Ozpin had the boy backing down, he still shot hateful glares at his leader's back as the new team filed off the stage.

"And finally, Cerise Silviana, Emitt Vulcan, Flavian Whitmore, and April Quinn, the four of you retrieved the Jack of Spades card, Together you will be known as Team SEaWAter, led by: Cerise Silviana." With a girly squeal April somehow managed to pull all three of her teammates into a group hug. It was at that moment, attempting to wriggle out of the excitable blond's grasp that she realized something was wrong, she wasn't feeling her teammates' body heat.

(11:46PM Team SEWA's new dorm)

Once she was aware that everyone else was asleep Cerise opened one of her bags and took out a case, inside the case were six syringes filled with a glowing blue liquid. Carefully Cerise removed one, took the cap off the needle, checked for air bubbles, and with practiced precision sunk the syringe into a vein and the glowing liquid was slowly pumped into the young leader's bloodstream. It took a second to take hold, long enough for Cerise to remove the needle and heal the puncture with her aura, before icy pain mingled with ecstasy as the liquified ice Dust spread throughout her circulatory system. Almost an hour passed before Cerise could muster enough control over her muscles to replace the syringe in it's case and put the case back in her bag. Then, exhausted, she collapsed onto her bed and was asleep in seconds.

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(Author's Note: sorry for the long wait, please read review and enjoy)


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